England v New Zealand, World T20: live

Follow live over-by-over commentary from the World T20 Super 10 international
between England and New Zealand in Chittagong

By Alan Tyers

5:10PM GMT 22 Mar 2014

NEW ZEALAND WIN BY NINE RUNS ON DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD

• New Zealand win the toss and bowl• England make handy 172 on good pitch• Useful 30s from Ali, Buttler, Lumb• Corey Anderson impresses with wickets, catches• RAIN STOPS PLAY WITH KIWIS 52/1 (ahead on DL)• Live scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND WIN BY NINE RUNS ON DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD What a downer. Still, some signs of life in the England batting performance, but hard lines for them, having made 172. No time for me to explore it more, I'm afraid, I'm now rushing over to the other side of the office (actually, just a new browser window) to live blogWest Ham v Man United. Cheers.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Siddharth - Duckworth Lewis is unfair for 50 over games. It's just evil in the T20 format. Rain hit games should be declared tied. Period.&lt;/noframe&gt;

16.53 So another half an hour before they pull the plug. Raining. Looking highly unlikely. Hard lines for England, they'd put on a decent score and they deserved a chance to defend it fair and square.

16.50 Nice little stat from the Sri Lanka/South Africa game earlier: Sri Lanka have never lost a T20 after making 160 or more...

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Jonathan Liew - Still raining. The official cut-off time is 5.23pm, as New Zealand's innings began 23 minutes late.&lt;/noframe&gt;

16.45 As I understand it, the final cut-off point for any sort of match at all will be 11.23pm local time. At that point I expect we'd have about two balls before calling it a day. Eurch.

16.35 An email arrives from Evan Dunn, who asks:

Are they level on the D/L at the moment as the scores at this point are exact?

Alas not. That would be far too simple for cricket! The Duckworth-Lewis formula aims to calculate a provisional score for the team batting second based on "resources remaining". So New Zealand have nine wickets and 14.4 overs remaining, and that's valued at a higher percentage than the point England had reached.

16.25 If we get on by 16.30, then we'll have a full twenty overs. Any later start than that, and we will start reducing overs. That would certainly not be to England's advantage.

16.23 Dunno if this is the site to which Iain (see tweet below) was referring to, but those who thought they were buying money by betting on a Kiwi win at, presumbaly, 50/1 on or whatever might be getting a bit nervy if we do get back out for a cricket game.

16.20 Good news. The covers are coming off.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Iain O'Brien - Since it started raining, and the players left the field, there has been over &amp;#163;2,000,000 bet through one betting site.Unbelievable&lt;/noframe&gt;

16.16 Am hearing that the cut-off time is 5.10pm... Will confirm as soon as...

16.14 But still plenty heavy enough...

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Alan R Gardner - Was here for a rainstorm during the week, came down heavily for about half an hour but cleared up very quickly thereafter &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&amp;q=%23EngvNZ" target="_blank"&gt;#EngvNZ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noframe&gt;

16.06 The rain not quite as heavy as it first was..

Loving this party-sized groundsman and his tiny child's umbrella

OVER 5.2: NZ 52/1 (Williamson 24* Brendon 16*) After two balls of the next over (which is bowled by Chris Jordan), it starts to tip down. The players are off (15.59), the covers are on, and if we do not get back on, New Zealand will win. I am trying to find out what the cut-off point is for this match...

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Lee Harvey - That McCullum six could kill England via the D/L. Broad should have tied his shoes for 10 minutes instead to ensure a point apiece.&lt;/noframe&gt;

OVER 5: NZ 47/1 (Williamson 19* Brendon 16*) WEATHER-RELATED DRAMA Broady fit enough to bowl, or at least fit enough to give it a crack. But what a shot! Brendon comes down the pitch, Broad follows him but Brendon launches an outrageous six over the leg side. Now a big heave, thin edge, and a much-less-deserved four. Now a huge clap of thunder. Lightning! Groundstaff are ready to bring the covers on. We need five overs to make a Duckworth-Lewis game. When that thunder comes, NZ are on 41/1. That is, I think, one run below the DL rate. but Brendon McCullum has sorted that out pronto with another enormous six. 16 off the over, New Zealand are now ahead on DL and there are flashes of lightning all around the ground. No rain as yet though. Kiwis are presumably happy to get off, assuming that they know they're ahead on DL...

OVER 4: NZ 31/1 (Williamson 19* Brendon 0*) Good over Jade, well bowled lad. Just six off it.

Guptill c Jordan b Dernbach 11 Jade has by and large been pitching it up, but this one's shorter, and Guptill gets in a terrible pickle trying to pull. Top edges it for a simple catch at mid off. FOW 29/1

OVER 3: NZ 25/0 (Guptill 7* Williamson 17*) England not risking another over of Ali. They're trying to get funky, but not that funky. Jamiroquai, not James Brown. Anyway, it's Bresnan, but he's dished up a couple of short wide ones that the classy Williamson cuts away for boundaries.

OVER 2: NZ 15/0 (Guptill 7* Williamson 7*) Jade Dernbach on. Permission to blub, sir? Actually, to be fair to Jade, he bowled well in the West Indies. Guptill chips the ball delightfully down the ground for four, economy of effort. Four singles to go with it.

OVER 1: NZ 7/0 (Guptill 2* Williamson 5*) The first five balls go well for England, just three singles. But a poor bit of fielding from Chris Jordan now, he lets a simple stop right through him at point. Meh. The NZ fielding - an aberration of a drop by the keeper aside - was mustard.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Jonathan Agnew - This game is scheduled to end in one hour's time! Get a grip &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&amp;q=%23icc" target="_blank"&gt;#icc&lt;/a&gt;. This is not what T20 is about &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&amp;q=%23icct20cwc" target="_blank"&gt;#icct20cwc&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noframe&gt;

The rapid 30's are actually often more valuable especially as the ball needs to be hit so hard and the players will tire quickly. Now what we need to see is Moeens doosra.

And Peter Rowntree adds:

What we have posted is a competitive score. What England are missing in both T20 and ODI games at present is someone who can really take the game by the scruff of the neck and give us an out of sight score to put pressure on the other side when they bat second. The only time we have done this, this Winter, was when Chris Jordan did this in the dead-rubber win we had against the Windies. But at least we are in with a chance today.

ENGLAND MAKE 172 A good score. England are in the game here. If we're being picky, we would say that it's a shame that Ali, Lumb and Buttler couldn't convert promising thirties into something really significant. Still, New Zealand will have to bat well to make 173. On the downside, the ball may be hard to grip because of the dew, and the Black Caps certainly have the batsmen to make hay on a friendly pitch. Let's hope that England learn from the Kiwi mistake and don't bowl too short.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Jonathan Liew - England 172/6. Factor in the dew, New Zealand's battery of hitters and Jade Dernbach, and I'm predicting a tie.&lt;/noframe&gt;

OVER 20: ENG 172/6 (Bopara 24* Bresnan 17*) Well batted Bres! He's launched an attempted yorker from Anderson down the ground for six, Ravi keeps the score moving with a couple of twos but there are no further boundaries. 13 off the over and that's all she wrote. 24 runs off 14 balls in that last wicket stand, handy.

OVER 19: ENG 159/6 (Bopara 18* Bresnan 10*) Bresnan has connected with a couple of meaty blows through the offisde. Anderson nearly got a hand to one of them on the rope, would have been a screamer, but can't quite hang on. What can England manage off the final over?

Jordan c Southee b Nathan McC 8 The Kiwi catching and fielding in the deep really has been splendid. Jordan steps back in the crease, steadies himself, and nabs the catch. FOW 148/6

OVER 17: ENG 145/5 (Bopara 14* Jordan 8*) Dear me. Suffering Southee! Draws a regulation nick from Bopara, ball flies through to Luke Ronchi. And he's dropped it. Blimey, they don't get much simpler than that with the gloves on. Worse still, they run a single on that and he fails to throw down the stumps. And Ronchi's misery is complete when Ravi Bopara now lamps the very next ball for six. And now Chris Jordan, fittingly on the opening day of the MLB season, has baseball batted the ball back down the ground for six. Southee completes his four overs for a forgettable 46. Still, he got a wicket at least.

OVER 16: ENG 130/5 (Bopara 7* Jordan 1*) Enjoying Corey Anderson a lot. Couple of wickets, two outstanding catches, looks like he wouldn't let the Kiwi side down at an all-you-can-eat contest. England now odds-on to make a below-par score, I'd say.

Buttler b Anderson 32 Full, outside edge, Buttler has a slightly half-hearted drive at it and drags the ball on. Another England player gets in and then gets out without really doing the business. FOW 129/5

OVER 15: ENG 126/4 (Buttler 32* Bopara 4*) Two sccop shots from Buttler off Southee. Super fielding from Anderson to keep the first one down to three, bit there's no stopping the second one. Now he slices to third man, and this is a productive over for the E:

OVER 14: ENG 114/4 (Buttler 21* Bopara 3*) Nine runs, so you cannot grumble as an England fan, but the sense emerging is that the Kiwis have got this back under control. No boundaries off Mills, and England need to find an extra yard here because this is a belter of a pitch. Short break while we all enjoy some banging techno

OVER 13: ENG 105/4 (Buttler 15* Bopara 1*) Excellent over from Southee. The wicket, of course, and a neat mixture of bumpers and yorkers.

Morgan c Brendon McCullum b Southee 12 Good comeback from Southee after a dreck first over, a hadny off cutter that Morgan is always reachign for and never really getting. He taps it lamely to mid off, where Brendon takes a smart running catch. FOW 103/4

OVER 12: ENG 103/3 (Morgan 12* Buttler 15*) Brendon McCullum getting a bit too funky. No sweeper in the last over, and no long on for the off-spin of brother Nathan. These gaps allow two lusty but avoidable fours for Buttler. The brothers are having a chat! Well, more of a bust-up, actually. Can Brendon be presuaded into a more conventional field? He sticks a long in and Buttler drives it there for a hard-run two.

OVER 11: ENG 93/3 (Morgan 12* Buttler 5*) Morgan spanks a ball through point for four, not sure why there's no man out there sweeping, and then pulls aerially, lands safe. Nine off the over. The ball coming onto the bat like a dream, England are going to need plenty of runs here.

OVER 10: ENG 84/3 (Morgan 7* Buttler 1*) First quiet over of the innings, been an enjoyable game so far, as Buttler and Morgs fiddle Nathan around for seven.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Jonathan Liew - Corey Anderson's been involved in all three wickets so far. Like prime-era Flintoff, sometimes the ball just finds him.&lt;/noframe&gt;

Lumb c Anderson b McClenaghan 33 The England opener tries to carve the ball over the offisde but he's skewed it to third man... and there's that lad Anderson again! he races forwards and slides to take a super low catch. Not easy, with the due and the ball coming out of the night sky. FOW 77/3 An email arrives from Peter Rowntree:

England's T20 chances on the basis of what has happened so far this winter, none to very slim. If they don't win today I would say no chance. The KP situation, well I suppose I have to get over it, like all other cricket fans I have been gievn no other options by the ECB, although the evidence against Kevin looks to say the least very flimsy. Disenchanted with English crciket, well I love cricket, but I have to doubt the wisdom of entering a phase of infallibility of the captain and coach, especially after the results we have had this winter. I don't think other cricket fans will wear this either, and perhaps half- empty against Sri Lanka will give a message that the ECB understands. Feel that we are in a mess that we were in 1970, when suddenly David Steele emerged from Notrthamptonshire and gave us all something to cheer about - can't help that history isn't about to repeat and a young cricketer will emerge from Northamptosnhire to get us all back on our feet cheering - let's hope so.

OVER 8: ENG 75/2 (Ali 33* Morgan 0*) Early days of course, but I'd like to see Mooen - who has now scored 44, 10, 55, 5,3 and 36 in his six England innings - go on and make one of them a match-winner.

Ali c McClenaghan b Anderson 36 Corey Anderson, the all-rounder, comes on for a bowl. But like his senior colleagues, he's too short. Far too short and wide to Lumb, who cuts for a freebie four. But now, a real setback for England. Moeen, who had been playing delightfully, has hoiked a slower one down midwicket's throat. A real shame that, because Ali had New Zealand under the pump. FOW 73/2

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SETS: IT'S THE ENGLAND CRICKET SHIRT

OVER 7: ENG 66/1 (Ali 35* Lumb 26*) Nathan McC with a poor full toss - is there any other kind from a spinner? Lumb donks that away for four, and then a delicious cover drive next ball for the same result.

OVER 6: ENG 55/1 (Ali 34* Lumb 16*) Not quite so good from England in that over, swinging and missing from Mooen. No need to get carried away, lad. Just play your game. He does manage to flick one through leg for four. A satsfying powerplay from England, not often you see them going at 9.5 an over. And a good recovery after losing Hales in the first over. The question now is: can they keep the scoreboard rotating v spin?

OVER 5: ENG 48/1 (Ali 29* Lumb 15*) Highly enjoyable batting from England, notably Moeen Ali, who is a very nice touch player in very nice touch. Tim Southee starts with two poor balls, Moeen pulls them away nicely, two fours. Southee - this is a dreadful over, no two ways about it, drops short yet again and Lumb goes one better: hoiking it for six over midwicket. Contrasting styles: the rapier of Ali and the bludgeon of Lumb.

OVER 4: ENG 31/1 (Ali 20* Lumb 7*) McClenaghan with the slower ball, but Lumb is onto that sharpish, chipping it down the ground neartly for his first boundary.

OVER 3: ENG 25/1 (Ali 19* Lumb 2*) Moeen Ali chips that ball over mid off, not a million miles away from the fielder, but Nathan McCullum isn't the biggest. Moeen presses on from that little bit of luck with a thumping pull into the stands for six! Danny Morrison: "Moeen is mowing one here." No. Do not do this. Now a third boundary in as many balls, straight down the ground for four. Excellent. Signs that the Kiwi fielders are having a hard time getting a hold of the ball.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Peter Miller - Considering all the divisive influences have been thrown out of the dressing room England look proper miserable&lt;/noframe&gt;

OVER 2: ENG 9/1 (Ali 5* Lumb 1*) I'm an admirer of Mitchell McGlenaghan, very handy left-armer, always impressed when I've seen him. Two slips! Oh, Brendon. Delightful flick to the legside boundary from Moeen gives England their first boundary. Hales is a source of three leg byes off the pads, and England have a dog in the race with an eight run over.

OVER 1: ENG 1/1 (Lumb 1* Ali 0*) Excellent start from the Kiwis, England cannot get it away. Kane Williamson with a fine diving stop at point. On the upside, Moeen Ali's beard is looking magnificent.

Hales c Anderson b Mills 0 No messing from England! Lumb tucks it off the pads, now Hales tries to work a slower ball to leg, gets the leading edge and the big lad Anderson takes a super catch over his head, back-pedalling at mid off. Really excellent catch, especially for a man-mountain type of player. FOW 1/1

13.38 Odd couple commentary duo of the shrewd Nasser and the super enthusiastic Danny Morrison. Quite a lot of milling around before the start of the match. Some peculiar counting down video from the England players. Anyway, here's Lumb about to take strike, and Kyle Mills to bowl at him

13.35 Players coming onto the pitch. Can't say I fancy England much, but I guess you never know. The format is a leveller.

13.30 If England are going to do anything at this tournament then they're going to need some fireworks from Morgan - something that hasn't really happened for a while.

13.25 England really only have two major weaknesses in this format. They cannot bowl at the death, and they don't hit enough sixes. Their better players in the format are Morgan, Buttler and arguably Bopara, but they come in too far down the order, for me. You never really get the sense that England's boys come to the wicket thinking "right I am going to give it some tap."

13.24 "The standard line and length bowling that you get for four day cricket is the ideal length to hit in T20," says Marcus Trescothick. Take heed, England. Get those yorkers in.

13.25 So England have gone with four seamers. Mooen Ali will back up James Tredwell in the spin department. England figuring that it will be hard to grip the ball later when it gets wet from the dew.

13.20 Still not entirely certain who is going to be in the England team but this is the unconfirmed line-up.

13.15 Toss now. New Zealand win the toss and bowl. Broad admits he would have done the same, the fears are that the ball will become hard to grip later on. Broad himself will play, that much we know.

13.10 Right. That last game over-ran quite badly so there may be a little bit of a delay. Still unclear if Broad will play. England will be cheered by that last match, in which the seamers had a good say.

13.05 We turn our attention now to England. Toss and teams shortly. Luke Wright, as you may have read, has withdrawn from the tour with a side strain. Craig Kieswetter comes into the squad.

13.00 Malinga bowls the last over, and David Miller has run himself out in a comedy stylee. Imran Tahir whacks a couple but South Africa end up five runs short of Sri Lanka's 165, and they'll be kicking themselves.

12.55 In the other group game this afternoon, South Africa are choking it up nicely against the Sri Lankans. Well, not the full choke, perhaps. Mroe of a spluttter. They needed 29 from the last three overs, and Albie Morkel looked to be right on track with a ten-run 18th over. But over 19 was a bit of a horror, Behardien caught in the deep and then just four runs off it. That's left them needing 15 off the last over.

12.45 Turning away from the specific match today, Oliver Brown is the latest interpid interviewer to try, and fail, to get an England cricketer to say something interesting. Or even something consistent.Joe Root here toes the party line about Trott and KP etc. This makes me a bit sad and angry that a young player who came into the England set-up with such obvious delight and joie de vivre is now "being briefed by PRs" and spouting this sort of defensive guff.

His attitude to the Pietersen affair is more curious. With the England and Wales Cricket Board rumoured to be holding a dossier of 50 misdemeanours committed by the scorned batsman in Australia – despite not disclosing a single one in the public – Root purports to know nothing about any indiscretion. “I always got on really well with Kevin. I didn’t realise the situation that existed then. All I know is that he has had a fantastic career for England, that he is a fantastic talent, and I hope he can carry on showing the world how good he is.”

How can this be? Root spent 104 days in Australia, from the first nets session to the final grisly T20 humiliation in Sydney, living in the pockets of Pietersen from Adelaide to Alice Springs, and yet he saw not one example of the sackable conduct the ECB alleges?“To be honest, as a young lad, you don’t always see it. I try not to get involved in things like that. As a young player you can become so involved in your own game, making sure you do everything right. I think it would be wrong for me to comment further, because I don’t know masses about the subject.”

That extensive prior briefing that Root received is evidently kicking in.

12.40 The excellent Jonathan Liew is at the ground, we'll be checking in with him throughout. Meantime, have a read of his preview piece, in which he marks your card over the exicting young all-rounder Corey Anderson, among other things

But now they face New Zealand, a team that have been “dark horses” in virtually every tournament they have ever played. Their recent record in Bangladesh is abysmal – consecutive 4-0 and 3-0 defeats in 50-over cricket and a drawn Test series last autumn. But that series unearthed a brilliant young talent called Corey Anderson, an all-rounder from Christchurch who many believe could emulate his hero Chris Cairns.

In one respect, he has already surpassed him – and everyone else. On New Year’s Day he hit a century against the West Indies in 36 balls, the fastest in one-day international history. In February, Mumbai snapped him up for £450,000 in the Indian Premier League auction. He is built like Atlas, hits like Hercules and bowls tidy seam-up.

“He’s an incredible talent,” said McCullum. “He’s one of those guys who, when he does get himself in, he wins a game pretty quickly.”

12.30 Afternoon and welcome to our live blog of England’s first step towards World T20 glory. Possibly. England open their campaign with a match against New Zealand, and many feel that England are merely making up the numbers. But there are, in fact, several reasons for optimism:

1) Mitchell Johnson is not in the New Zealand side.

2) Whatever happens in this tournament, England can lose no more than four games.

England's fixtures are New Zealand today (it's a night game in Chittagong). Then Sri Lanka on Thursday, and South Africa a week today, both also under lights. Then they have a day-nighter against the Netherlands a couple of days after that. Hard to see England getting a result against Sri Lanka or South Africa (or indeed Holland - honk!) so you would think that they pretty much have to beat NZ today.